“Ok,” she replied, making her way to the front door.
To her surprise, Zac was standing on the other side. “What are you doing here?” She was annoyed that he was disturbing her normality.
“We have to work. Now.” Zac grabbed her arm. The blue spark flickered and they were gone.
Wendy ran down the shop towards the centre of operations, also known as the cleaning cupboard. “Jason, Fran, help.”
“What’s up?” Jason asked, opening the door. He could tell by her expression that something was happening, and it wasn’t good.
“Zac’s watch thing just started to purr, then he stood up and poof, blue spark, gone. Not even a goodbye. You don’t think he’ll do anything silly, like try to go it alone?” Wendy asked in an exasperated tone.
“First let’s check on Val.” Jason grabbed his chair and span to a halt in front of the laptop. “Looks like she’s still in Arcsdale.” As he spoke the computer sprang into life, numbers flashing and whizzing across the screen. “I take that back. Zac has obviously found her.” They all watched patiently for her to re-appear.
Val landed, as usual, on the ground, knees first this time, christening her new jeans in soft wet mud.
“What exactly are you doing?!” she yelled at Zac who landed as if he had just jumped off of a five-inch curb.
“Our job.” Zac grabbed her arm, lifting her to her feet, then placed his finger on her lips to keep her quiet.
“Get the hell off of me! I’ll shout if I want to. I was having lunch. Can’t I even have five minutes away from the chaos?” Val shoved Zac’s hand away and finished brushing herself down. “Ruined. I just put these on today. I’m not made of money, you know. I don’t even know if I have a washing machine.” Val was so mad that her face glowed beetroot red.
“Duck!” Zac called, but it was too late. Two middleaged women of medium build, dressed as if they were out hiking, launched themselves from behind a bush and landed on Val’s back. She collapsed back onto the ground with a startled ‘poof’ of expelled air. If she had been mad before it now intensified tenfold as she rolled in the mud trying to escape the two crazy brunettes who were trying to finish her off with their fists.
This time, Val didn’t have to wait for that warning sensation in her arms and hands. She simply knew she was going to blow these ladies away. They were responsible for ruining her first date with Sam. She scrambled to her feet and turned to tackle them, but one reached forward, grabbing her ankle and pulling her down again, while the other struck her repeatedly. That was when she snapped. She swung her arms around yelling “Off!” and a powerful gust of wind escaped her palms, hurling both her assailants across the ground, through several bushes and, for the time being, out of sight. Her powers were growing in intensity and her speed and confidence in her ability were increasing along with them. Val leapt to her feet, calling to Zac to follow. As she began to run she turned, only for a split second, to make sure he was keeping up.
“The eagle has landed,” Jason said.
“Where are they?” Fran and Wendy asked in sync.
“The Yorkshire moors.”
“That’s not good. Isn’t that one of those Godforsaken places where people get lost and no one can find them because there’s thousands of miles of nothing?” Wendy was starting to look pale.
“Hey, Val can teleport, don’t worry. I’ll give her a call.” Jason pulled out his military style phone and dialled her number.
“Is that big enough for you?” Wendy asked. Jason smirked sarcastically back at her as he held the device to his head. To their surprise a phone started ringing in the shop. Jason hung up and tried again. The same thing happened. Wendy ran into the shop to find Val’s bag vibrating under the counter.
“It’s all here, chunky phone, ear piece and her sword. She’s out there alone,” Wendy wailed.
“She has Zac,” Fran pointed out.
“So she’s all alone,” Jason replied.
Val spotted a derelict stone building on the horizon and headed for it as fast as her Converse trainers could get her through the thick pink and green heather and waterlogged holes. Zac was still following. All she could pray for was that they would make it there before the maniacs got to them. Val collided with the front door at speed; luckily for her it flew open with ease. She waited for Zac to enter, then thrust it shut. She looked around frantically for something to bar the door with. Spotting only a half broken chair, she grabbed it and shoved it under the door handle.
With her back against the door, she lowered herself to the stone floor of what seemed to be the main and only room. She sat still, panting and desperate for oxygen. Fumbling in her pocket she pulled out her personal mobile. “Please God let there be a signal,” she whispered. “Hi Jason. Yes, I’m fully aware that I left everything in my bag. I was supposed to be having a quiet lunch. Now is not the time to tell me off. We’re in some sort of abandoned building, but where?”
“Val I need to speak with Wendy,” Zac whispered.
“What for?” she snapped.
“She has the answer to our problem. She can look in the dellatrax.”
Val knew he was right and handed the mobile to Zac.
“Please, allow me to speak with Wendy,” Zac said into the receiver and waited patiently. “Hello, you need to go to the dellatrax and look for...” Zac looked down at his watch, “…prisoner 148702, and speed would be appropriate at this point.”
“For heaven’s sake, Wendy, please hurry up!” Val shouted from behind Zac. “And it’s fine for you, it’s not you they’re after.” She pointed angrily at him.
“I’ll stay here. Now go,” Jason said watching the screen.
Wendy ran down the aisle towards the books with Fran close behind her. “Which one Fran?” she asked.
“I don’t know! Look at them all.”
There were at least twenty large volumes on the counter and there was nothing distinguishable about any of them. Fran was worried that they couldn’t do this.
Wendy picked up the one nearest to her. Throwing the top cover open she just stared at the page. “I don’t know what to do. Zac said I could do this, but he was wrong,” Wendy flapped.
Fran had to do something quickly before Wendy went into complete melt down. “Give me the phone, Wendy,” she ordered. Wendy willingly passed the phone to Fran.
“Zac, we need your help. Wendy doesn’t know what to do.”
Zac started to talk and Fran nodded and made knowing sound effects as Wendy just looked blankly at the pages. “Right. Wendy, Zac says that the dellatrax is like a life force; you can read it, but you can also sense it. He says you need to sense prisoner 148702. You can do this,”
“Sense prisoner 148702? We should have practised this. I like to study; I’m very good at studying.”
Fran realised from Wendy’s jabbering that this wasn’t working. “Anything else that could help us, Zac? Zac...” Fran’s heart literally skipped a beat. The line was dead; they had been cut off. She needed to make a decision quickly: to tell or not to tell Wendy that they were alone.
“What’s he saying, Fran?” Wendy asked.
Fran put her hand up to motion Wendy to be quiet. Meanwhile she nodded as if she was receiving important information. “Ok. Zac says to use your special powers…that thing you did at the hospital.”
“I can’t control it, Fran, surely he realises that. It only happens when there is something in the future for me to see.”
“Wendy, how does a dead Val and Zac sound to you? Can you see that? Now do it!” Fran was still faking holding the phone to her head.
Wendy placed the book she was holding down on the counter. She allowed her hands to float about an inch above the leather cover and closed her eyes. “I can’t promise this will work as I...” Before she could finish the sentence, her body started to shake violently, although her hands were fixed over the book.
Fran stepped back, her jaw almost dislocating. Val’s power was awesome but this was scary beyond words.
Then Wendy stilled. Her eyes were pure white so Fran knew that it was show time. Slowly she pulled the phone away from her head. Wendy lifted the cover and the pages started to turn, flying at a velocity no normal person could possibly achieve. As Fran watched, symbols began to peel off the page. They rose into the air and turned into neon blue holograms, floating around Wendy and the book. Fran made out symbols that resembled the one on Val’s tattoo. If it hadn’t been such a tense moment she would have said it was pretty.
Wendy’s body suddenly became completely rigid and she hadn’t blinked since she started. The pages seemed to slow and then stop. She looked and there, on the open page, was prisoner 148702. “Bingo!”
Fran looked down at Jason’s phone, pressed re-dial and then started to pray.
There was an immense thud against the door. Their attackers had arrived. Zac had lost his signal and was wandering around the room, as instructed by Val, holding the phone up high, looking for some strange lines to indicate that he could make another call. “Primitive!” he kept shouting as another bang came. Val was holding the door shut with only her own bodyweight and that of the chair, and the two women outside weren’t as tired as she was right now. Just as the third collision struck the phone started to ring. Zac looked nervously from the phone to Val.
“Green button! Press the green button!” Val screamed.
He looked at the phone and smiled as the penny dropped. “Fran! Have you found the information we require?” Zac asked as he started to walk towards Val.
Val shouted at him, “No! Don’t move! You’ll lose the signal. Stand still!”
Zac froze. “Yes. Yes. Oh, those two. I remember reading about them. Not a good story, they...”
“ZAC!” Val was ready to blow as another jolt almost knocked her clear of the door.
“Sorry, Val. Fran, please give me the information I require.” Zac listened intently, visibly processing everything that Fran was saying, then shoved the phone into his pocket. “These two are a pair of cargo thieves. They stole from all over the galaxy and we had great difficulty catching them. They are Chellemi. Fran says that in the dellatrax it says their weakness is their obsession with guns, gold and precious gems.”
“Great. I will beat them to death with my purse. Oh no, I don’t have one. Or I could club them with my diamond rings, of which I have even less. What good is this information to us?”
It was too late. With one massive final blow, the door blew Val across the room. She struck the wall and collapsed onto the floor. The Chellemi were in and they quickly made their way to Val’s body.
They seemed to move as one in an almost feline fashion. The darkest haired of the two, bent down close to Val’s face. “We have been sent to destroy you, guard, and the fact that you are a female and the daughter of Gabrielle has made the price on your head even greater.” She flicked her tongue out, tasting the air and Val could smell her rancid breath. The two women then proceeded to brush against each other’s arms in celebration, almost like cats. Val felt completely repulsed.
“Wait,” Zac called from behind.
“What do you want, hunter?” They looked at him in disgust.
“I have something greater than money or the life of this pathetic guard for you.” Zac reached into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet.
“You would give us a portal key for the life of this thing?” The dark haired women asked, kicking at Val with the edge corner of their boots.
“It’s no good to me now, but it would be to you.” Zac waved it at them and they seemed hypnotised by it. Turning towards him they moved as one in his direction.
“How can we trust that it will work?” The leader of the two women held out her arm towards it, but not quite reaching it, scared to touch it.
“You have my word as a hunter.” Zac stepped forward, holding it closer to them as they recoiled nervously.
“Then the deal is done.” The woman snatched the bracelet and they huddled quickly together in the corner of the room examining their prize.
“Zac, what are you doing?” Val grabbed his hand as he pulled her to her feet.
“Making sure you live to fight another day.” The blue spark passed between them and they disappeared.
Zac arrived back at the door to Alchany to find Val had landed upside down on the bed. “Move. We need to get ready,” he said. “And remind me that we must work on your landing; you come across as childlike when you arrive in such a manner.” He held out his hand to help her rise.
“I’m trying!” she snapped pushing him away.
They entered the bookshop to find Fran holding a glass of water for Wendy. Relief flooded her face when she saw they were safe. “You had me worried, guys. Wendy had to go all psycho to find what you wanted.”
“Psychic, not psycho.” Wendy lifted her head and beamed at Val.
“Val has no time to talk. Show me where her things are and the page with the Chellemi on it,” Zac said.
“Excuse me. I can speak for myself. So, what’s going on?” Val rummaged in her bag and retrieved all her gadgets. She flicked out her sword to check it was still working then shoved it into her pocket.
“They will come as soon as they find out the portal is here,” Zac warned them, scanning the information in the book. “Then they will attempt to kill us all. They have amazing strength and give no value to our lives. We only escaped because I gave them a key to our universal doorways, all over the galaxy. Aha...” Zac was now tapping his finger on the page. “This is how we can stop them.”
Val looked over Zac’s shoulder to see a hideous image of a slimy looking, half-human half fish creature. “Is that what they really look like?”
Zac nodded.
“Wow, gross. So what do we need to do?” Val asked.
“It says that the original guard who captured them used a trap. He and his hunter cornered them and used a slig-lock to take them back.”
“I’m sorry, a slig-what?” Fran asked as Wendy finally stood up.
“A slig-lock is a powerful force field. You see, the Chellemi are very clever, cunning and hard to catch and, as I said, they put no value on life, so they will kill us all unless we can make a trade of sufficient value.”